Supporting the fleet in recovery after the storm.

Following Typhoon No. 3, Quang Ninh's tourism industry suffered significant damage. Many businesses and boat owners in the Ha Long Bay tourist fleet experienced immense losses. The sinking of 27 tourist boats by the storm has left boat owners in dire straits, having only recently recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, everyone is eagerly awaiting timely and effective support policies to help restore, preserve, and develop the fleet – an iconic symbol of Quang Ninh tourism.

Typhoon No. 3 caused significant damage to many tourism businesses.

According to a report from the Department of Transport, 27 tourist boats and 4 transport vessels sank in the province due to Typhoon Yagi . Of these, 23 tourist boats anchored and sheltering from the storm at Tuan Chau International Tourist Port sank on September 7th.

Speaking to reporters, the ship owners expressed their sorrow at seeing their assets, worth billions of dong, submerged in water for so long, causing even more damage to their already damaged vessels. According to the ship owners,   It is estimated that repairing a wooden-hulled tourist boat costs between 500 million and 1 billion VND; a steel-hulled tourist boat costs between 1 and 10 billion VND. Some boats that are beyond repair must be completely replaced with new ones, costing billions of VND.

Mr. Vu Dinh Sang, owner of the Mai Lam tourist boat, shared: "During the recent storm, businesses in general suffered losses to varying degrees. My family owns four passenger boats that take tourists to visit Ha Long Bay, and three of them were sunk by the storm. The extent of the damage so far is immeasurable, as most of the money for building and purchasing the boats came from bank loans, leaving us in a truly dire situation. For now, we earnestly hope that the province, departments, and relevant agencies will provide financial assistance to help us salvage the boats quickly and bring them to the repair shop as soon as possible, because the longer they remain submerged, the more severe the damage will become."

Mr. Tran Van Hong, Chairman of the Ha Long Tourist Boat Association, met with and assessed the situation of businesses and boat owners whose vessels were sunk while anchored and sheltering from the storm at Tuan Chau International Tourist Port.

Mr. Tran Van Hong, Chairman of the Ha Long Bay Tourist Boat Association, said: "As soon as we received information about the sinking of tourist boats and overnight cruise ships in Ha Long Bay due to Typhoon No. 3, the Association quickly reviewed the number of boats, visited and encouraged the boat owners to find solutions to overcome the damage, with the top priority being contacting salvage units to salvage the ships as quickly as possible. In recent days, salvage units, mainly in Hai Phong, have also been very busy because quite a number of ships and water transport vehicles were involved in accidents during Typhoon No. 3."   Therefore, on September 16th, the salvage operation for the sunken ships at Tuan Chau International Tourist Port finally commenced after a week of waiting. However, due to the devastating effects of the storm, the first ships salvaged were also severely damaged. The association has reported to the province and relevant authorities managing tourist ships to request financial support for salvage operations for the companies, businesses, and ship owners. We earnestly hope that banks will step in to support businesses by extending or postponing debt payments so that they can repair, upgrade, or build new ships to resume operations and generate revenue as soon as possible.

“Loan support at this time is truly necessary and extremely important to help businesses and ship owners restart their operations. Indeed, after nearly three years of the Covid-19 pandemic, ship owners are exhausted. Just when operations had stabilized, they were hit so hard by the storm that we lacked the financial resources to recover,” said Mr. Vu Nguyen Tuyen, a ship owner operating in Ha Long Bay.

At a meeting on September 13th to discuss solutions to mitigate the consequences of Typhoon No. 3 and gradually restore tourism activities, Mr. Cao Tuong Huy, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, directed departments and agencies to focus on supporting and immediately resolving the difficulties faced by tourism businesses. He also instructed the Department of Transport to quickly assist in salvaging the sunken tourist boat to ensure stable and safe transportation operations.

To support businesses, Quang Ninh will immediately propose to the Government policies on banking, including debt restructuring, debt deferral, debt postponement, interest rate reductions, and new loans for affected businesses; and request reductions in electricity prices, taxes, insurance, etc.

Removing obstacles for businesses in general, and those operating in the tourism sector in particular, is an urgent task. We believe that with the province's timely support policies and the self-reliance and resilience of businesses, the tourism service sector throughout the province will soon recover and stabilize, creating a crucial impetus for the Hạ Long cruise fleet, which has been painstakingly built into a national tourism brand, to continue developing in an increasingly professional and modern manner.

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/ho-tro-doi-tau-du-lich-khoi-phuc-3319808.html